In 2015 Eben and Tom delivered a talk at the BCS London Lean Kanban Day to describe a recent STATIK workshop they conducted. Within their talk they explored the practical implementation of a STATIK (Systems Thinking Approach to Implementing Kanban) workshop. As well as methods to uncover how teams work. Looking at what they do and why they do it. As well as what dissatisfies their customers. They also examined the purpose of the system, and ultimately turned the treasures unearthed into a Kanban systems design.
Both Eben and Tom ran this workshop as Archaeologists. Digging for hidden treasures along their five stage STATIK (Systems Thinking Approach To Implementing Kanban).
Step one: Understanding the motivation
Within this stage it is important to identify internal and external dissatisfaction. Internally teams may be dissatisfied with events that; delay work and hinder the progress of the team, or stop the team delivering work on time and hinder them in producing a good quality product. While externally, dissatisfaction may stem from expectations not being met.
It is also important at this stage to identify sources of variability. At this stage Eben and Tom compared policies under the teams control with external factors. This led to an understanding of where changes could be made to improve the out-put of the team.
Step two: Conducting a demand & capability analysis
Collectively with the team, Tom and Eben explored the sources of work. At this time they looked at how the team managed the workflow as well as the destination of the work once complete and the size of each piece of work.
Step three: Mapping the workflow
Once an understanding of the demand on the team was known, Tom and Eben mapped each service that was under review. In this instance there were nine services. At this stage the team looked at movements in the work stream, cycles in that work as well as cross over.
Step four: Designing the Kanban system
Now the digging and investigation was complete. The workflow and the history of the team was understood, the process of designing could begin. To complete this stage of the workshop they encouraged the team to build their board. From here, the team were able to agree WIP (work in progress) limits, define their policies and cards.
Step five: Agreeing system roll out
At this stage of the process the team worked with Eben and Tom to discover how they would present their system.
